Everyone Reads Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone
by xxxMarauders' Girlxxx
Summary: The Past, Present and Future all read the Harry Potter Books! This is an alternate universe where all the marauders have kids. OC's included. Please read and Review! Warning: no Golden Trio but we do meet the Weasley's and Hermione!
1. The Kids Who Lived

Everyone Reads: Contains OC's and an AU! Read and Review!

Lily Evans fell but just before she hit the floor, strong arms caught her. She looked up and her green eyes looked into her saviour's face through her dark red hair and almost cried in disgust. A sixteen year old boy was looking back at her. He had very untidy hair, round glasses which framed his thin face and hazel eyes.

James Potter was the school bully and leader of the group of boys who alongside him pranked the school. They called themselves "The Marauders". The others were Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. Speaking of…

'James! Prongs! Where are you?' Sirius shouted.

'Right here you moron,' James said rubbing his ear in which Sirius had yelled in as they were right next to each other. Sirius was tall with grey eyes and neat black hair.

Remus stood beside him with his fingers in his ears. He too, was tall but with mousey brown hair and chocolate brown eyes.

Peter on the other hand was short with light brown hair and watery blue eyes. He was nothing like the other boys who were all tall and handsome. Why he was part of the group was a mystery to everyone.

There was another girl standing there. She was Remus' little sister Emily and looked just like him too.

'What the hell?' two boys yelled out in unison before anyone else could speak.

'Harry are you alright?' a girl asked as a baby started squealing. 'Shhh Santana, it's alright.'

'Lily? James? Are you alright?' an unfamiliar voice asked to which four voices replied.

Three people came from behind a tall pile of books. There was a boy and girl of around seventeen came into view. The girl was holding a baby girl who had the same black hair as the girl but bright green eyes as Lily. The girl had grey hair and looked almost identical as Sirius. As for the boy, he also had Lily's eyes but other than that looked exactly like James. Both the girl and boy were looking at everyone awestruck.

Lily opened her mouth to speak but before she did, five people appeared around another stack of books. There was only one girl in the group. She looked like the youngest and a lot like Lily. Two boys looked like James only one of them had green eyes instead. The last two boys looked like Remus they looked like the oldest of their group of five.

'Er- who are you?' Remus and one of the older boys asked. The boy smiled at Remus who reluctantly returned the gesture.

'I'm Andromeda Bla-Potter,' the girl holding the baby said. Everyone turned to James who shrugged. Andromeda smiled mostly at Sirius and Emily.

'I'm Harry Potter,' the boy next to her said.' And this is Santana Potter,' he pointed to the baby. Everyone turned once again to James.

James coughed and said,' I'm James Potter. Er, are you like from the future or something?'

'Yes,' Andromeda and Harry said together, they looked at each other and smiled.

'Lily Evans, Sirius Black, Remus and Emily Lupin and Peter Pettigrew,' James introduced everyone from his time pointing at each person.

'Remus Pettigrew, Teddy Lupin, James Potter, Albus Potter and Lily Potter,' the boy who spoke alongside Remus before introduced the rest. Albus was the one with Lily's eyes.

'Well this could be confusing,' Aurora said. Every on stared at her confused. Everyone kept staring so she went on,' there are two Lily's, James' and Remus'.'

'You can all call me Moony, James Sr. Prongs and Lily… I'll get back to you on that one.' Remus said.

'You can call me Lily Luna,' Lily Jr. said.' My middle name's Luna.'

'So who are your parents?' Sirius asked smirking at Prongs.

'Emily Lupin and Sirius Black,' Andromeda said while grinning at her parents priceless faces.

'Then how are you a Pot-oh,' Emily realized. Then-

'HOW OLD ARE YOU EXACTLY?!' Sirius yelled glaring at the ring on Andromeda's hand and Santana.

'Sixteen, just about seventeen,' Andromeda said smirking.

Before Sirius could yell again, Emily asked Harry,' and yours?'

'James Potter and Lily Evans' he said.

'YES! I marry James!' Lily shouted, surprising everyone. She had been the only person at Hogwarts known to hate Prongs; she turned down the opportunity to be his date more times than you could count and they were often seen fighting.

'You're happy about that?' Sirius asked skeptically.

Lily blushed while Prongs celebrated and Peter started crying. Everyone looked towards Peter, who finally choked out,' this is just like at the end of those Muggle fairytales.'

Everyone rolled their eyes. Before anyone could speak, a book landed on Sirius' head and Santana squealed delightedly at the sight of her grandfather getting a book dropped on him.

Andromeda picked the book up as she was the closest and looked at the title. Her face went white but she kept staring at it. Emily and Lily Luna went to look and read out 'Potter and Black and the Philosophers Stone.'

Harry too went white. Everyone looked between him and Andromeda, who said' First year.'

'Ok! Er-shall we read?'Moony and Remus asked.

All of a sudden all the columns of books were gone and replaced with a round table and thirteen lounges. Everyone sat in a lounge and Santana was sat on Harry's lap.

'Who wants to read first?' Andromeda and Sirius asked.

'I will!' Albus said. He snatched the book from Andromeda and read:

**The Kids Who Lived**

'Boring!' Sirius, Prongs, James and Albus yelled.

'Shhh!' Lily and Lily Luna hissed.

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.**

'You're welcome,' Sirius and Andromeda yelled out together. Emily groaned; the world didn't need another Sirius Black.

**They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

'Wanna bet?' Andromeda grinned evilly.

Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.

'What are drills?' Prongs and Peter asked.

'Tools that Muggles use to fix thing with,' Sirius said.' I took Muggle Studies to make my mother angry.'

'Exactly what I'd have done,' Andromeda stated proudly. Emily groaned again.

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache.**

'Nice,' Sirius, Prongs, James and Albus guffawed.

**Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usually amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over the garden fences, spying on the neighbors.**

'What's the bet that's our dear aunt Petty?' Andromeda asked Harry.

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

'Lies!' Andromeda said.

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it.**

'Ohhh what is it?' Sirius and Andromeda said fake interested.

**They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.**

'Oh yes, the shame it is to be related to a Potter! The horror!' Andromeda said dramatically.

'Is there any part of you that isn't like your father?' Emily asked unable to contain herself.

'Other than being a girl? No,' Andromeda replied. Everyone but Sirius, Andromeda and Harry groaned.

'Is unDursleyish even a word?' Remus asked.

**The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street.**

'Well you see compared to you, there actually pretty normal. If possible,' Andromeda said.

'Aren't you a Potter too?' Lily asked confused.

'I'm only engaged. So I'm technically no a Potter yet.'

**The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

'I agree,' Andromeda said then quickly kissed Harry before he could say anything.

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts,**

'I thought the story already started?' The Black's and Potters said together.

**There was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work,**

'Most boring tie? This guy has no imagination!' the Lupins, Pettigrews, Potters and Blacks said.

**And Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

'Brat' everyone muttered.

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.**

'Brat,' everyone muttered again.

**"Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

'Little? Little? You need to get your eyes checked whale!' Andromeda yelled.

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar — a cat reading a map.**

'McGonagall!' Prongs and Andromeda shouted.

'Wanna bet?' Sirius asked.

'You're on! Five galleons!'

**For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen — then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light.**

'Sure it was,' Andromeda and James said sarcastically.

**Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive — no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps _or _signs. Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

'Yes a very entertaining thing to think about,' Aurora said coolly.

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else.**

'Oh the horror! How dare they disturb him?' Andromeda asked concerned.

**As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. Mr. Dursley couldn't bare people who dressed in funny clothes**

'No! Not only do they disturb his thoughts, they are unbearable!' the Blacks, Lupins, and Potters said astounded.

'And what is wrong with cloaks?' The purebloods excluding Sirius, the Potter kids and Andromeda asked.

'They aren't normal Muggle clothes!' the excluded said.

**— The getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdoes standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together.**

**Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak!**

'Oh no! What a shocker!' Andromeda and Sirius said.

**The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt —these people were obviously collecting for something… yes that would be it.**

**The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

'What a good memory this guy has,' Aurora and the Marauders said.

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning.**

'Yes we wouldn't want that,' Andromeda said. Emily was now scared that the Dursleys had done something bad to her daughter.

**He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead.**

'You'd think they would be more cautious,' Lily and Emily frowned.

**Most of them had never seen an owl even at night time. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more.**

'What a rude person!' Lily said loudly.

**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.**

'Is he trying to die of being a fat prick?' Andromeda snapped.

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch was whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard —"**

**"Yes their son Harry –"**

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead.**

'Yay! He's dead!' Sirius celebrated happily.

'Don't be an idiot,' Emily snapped.

**Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it. He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind.**

'Why, did he forget the number?' James laughed.

**He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache, thinking… no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew _was _called Harry.**

'I got the feeling he only occasionally remembers,' Harry smiled.

**He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.**

'Ewww, I would never call my son either of those names!' Lily and Prongs said.

'I would never let you call my godson either of those names!' Emily and Sirius said wrinkling their noses.

**There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her — if _he'd _had a sister like that…**

'HOW CAN HE SAY OR THINK SOMETHING LIKE THAT?' Prongs yelled.

'James calm down!' Lily soothed.

'BUT HOW CAN YOU BE SO CALM WHEN THEY ARE ASHAMED OF YOU INSTEAD OF BEING PROUD AS THEY SHOULD BE?'

'Because, I grew up with my sister being just like that! Its sot of old news to me now,' Lily replied.

'So she's like that too?' Prongs asked. Lily nodded.

**But all the same, those people in cloaks…**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

'Oh no, is he alright?' Sirius and Andromeda asked in fake concern.

**"Sorry," he grunted,**

'Whoa, he can actually say that, let alone actually know the word!' Andromeda and Albus asked suspiciously.

**As the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last!**

Silence filled in the room.

'He-he's gone? As in gone?' Moony and Peter asked nonplussed.

The people from the Marauders' era turned to Harry and Andromeda, who were tickling Santana and sent them confused looks.

'Just keep reading Albus,' Harry sighed.

**Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"**

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

'You mean his arms actually fit?' Lily asked doubtful.

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

'Dear God, he's worse than Snivelly!' Andromeda and Sirius replied.' Huh?'

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw—and it didn't improve his mood — was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning.**

**It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

'McGonagall,' Andromeda and Prongs said in a sing-song voice.

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.**

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.**

Sirius was looking worried now; it was too much like their professor.

**Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered.**

'No it's McGonagall behaviour,' Andromeda said matter-of-factly.

**Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Shan't!").**

'What a great word to learn,' Lily, Emily, Lily Luna and Andromeda said.

**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:**

'Yay! Let's watch the news!' Moony and Teddy said sarcastically.

**"**_**And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"** _

'Very witty,' Remus and Teddy said coolly.

**"**_**Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early — it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."** _

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters…**

'Wait! He can think?' Andromeda said confusedly. 'Like actually think? With a brain?'

Emily was definitely having a chat with her daughter about all of this.

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er — Petunia, dear — you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

'It's Tuney!' Lily and Andromeda screamed angrily.

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

'It's okay. It's okay,' Lily kept chanting to herself. James pulled her into a hug and she leaned in closer.

"**No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

**"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls… shooting stars… and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today."**

'And that means they're witches and wizards, how?' Prongs asked no one in particular.

**"_So?_" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

**"Well, I just thought… maybe… it was something to do with… you know… _her _crowd."**

'Her crowd. Her crowd? How can they talk like that about us?' Moony was yelling. He was acting more and more like his werewolf side now.

'Uncle Remmy please settle down,' Andromeda said.

He did settle but before anyone could laugh he said, 'Don't call me Remmy.'

Remus said, 'Yeah I agree with gran- Moony.'

'Why not Remmy?' Everyone but Moony, Remus, Peter, Lily and Lily Luna asked sweet and innocently. Lily instead was thinking about what Remus almost let slip.

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son — he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

'Yes!' Andromeda and Harry said grumpily.

**"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

**"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

**"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

'It is not!' Lily, James and Andromeda said together. 'I like it.'

'Anyway, it's way better than _Dudley_,' Sirius and Andromeda said.

'It's okay Andy. I like it too,' Harry said.

'Andy?' Everyone but harry and his fiancé laughed.

'Better than dear old Remmy's,' Andromeda retorted.

That made everyone but Moony and Remus laugh.

**"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."**

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

'That's because it's Minnie!' Andromeda and Prongs said.

**'Don't call her Minnie!' Lily said indignantly.**

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did… if it got out that they were related to a pair of — well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters _were _involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind… He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on — he yawned and turned over — it couldn't affect _them_…**

**How very wrong he was.**

'Oh no!' Lily and Emily said.

'Oh yes!' the Marauders, Andromeda and Harry said.

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

'That's a long time,' Lily Luna, Peter and Teddy said.

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

'I wonder why?' Remus said.

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice.**

'Dumbledore!' everyone said.

**This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

'I wonder why he's there?' Prongs and Sirius asked curiously.

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

'See. Even Dumbledore knows!' Andromeda said.

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop.**

'I want one!' Prongs and Sirius said automatically.

**He clicked it again — the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer,**

'Nice name,' Sirius sniggered.

**Until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement.**

**Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

**"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

'Ha! Pay up Padfoot!' Andromeda and Prongs yelled.

Sirius grudgingly parted with his five galleons.

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled. "How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

'Duh! You were sitting on a wall all day! No cat could sit as stiff as you!' Sirius remarked.

**"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

Sirius blinked at the similarities of the sentences and avoided everyone's eye.

**"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

**"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

'RUN! Run Professor! She's angry!' Andromeda yelled in fear of her favourite (though now dead) Headmaster. Everyone laughed at her antics.

**"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no — even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news."**

**She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls… shooting stars… Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent — I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

'True! Only a bit though,' Andromeda, Lily Luna and Sirius said.

**"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."**

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really _has _gone, Dumbledore?"**

'Ohh, cliff-hanger,' Aurora said dramatically.

**"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore.****"We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

'Only Dumbledore,' the Marauders and Andromeda said.

**"A _what_?"**

**"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who _has _gone —"**

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense — for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: _Voldemort_."**

**'I know you haven't,' said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. 'But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right_, Voldemort_, was frightened of.'**

'Agreed!' Everyone but Peter said proudly.

**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

'That's 'because you are too noble to use them,' Sirius said.

**"Only because you're too — well —_noble _to use them."**

'No! Padfoot please don't go over to the dark side!' Prongs and Andromeda begged frantically.

Everyone was out of breath from laughing so hard at the two sixteen year olds antics.

**"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

'Too much information!' The Black's, Potter's, Lupin's and Remus said blocking their ears.

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what they're saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

Everyone was one edge now – that was all except Andromeda and Harry.

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

**"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. Emily Black was on the way to their house. Just around the corner too.**

'No they didn't find us did they?' James asked worriedly. Nobody answered.

**The rumor is that Lily and James Potter and Emily Black are**

'Are awesome? We know,' Prongs said.

**— are — that they're — _dead_."**

There was complete silence. Emily was sobbing into Sirius' shoulder and there were tears in his eyes too. Aurora stood up handed Santana to Harry and went over to hug her parents. Harry hugged his as they too were crying. Andromeda waved Albus on to keep reading.

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

**"Lily and James… I can't believe it… I didn't want to believe it… Oh, Albus…"**

'Never new she cared that much,' Prongs sniffed trying to lift the mood.

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know… I know…" he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on.**

'There's more?' Emily choked.

**"That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry and the Black's daughter Andromeda. But- he couldn't. He couldn't kill those little kids. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter or Andromeda Black, Voldemort's power somehow broke- and that's why he's gone."**

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

'Wow,' everyone said. 'You killed Voldemort.'

'Please keep reading Albus,' Andromeda said.

**"It's — it's _true_?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done… all the people he's killed… he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding… of all the things to stop him… but how in the name of heaven did Harry and Andromeda survive?"**

**"We can only guess." said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

'He knows,' Lily, Lily Luna, Remus, Moony and Teddy said.

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me _why _you're here, of all places?"**

'Yeah, why?' Prongs, Emily, Lily, Moony, Sirius and Peter asked curiously.

**"I've come to bring the kids to Harry's aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now. And I think it best if they stick together."**

'NO! You can't let them live there they'll die!' Lily screamed.

'Er – mum? We're right here,' Harry said to which he got an "okay" for a reply.

**"You don't mean – you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore — you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son — I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

'Brat,' they all muttered.

**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

'A letter? You think you can explain everything in a letter, do you? Well guess what? You're wrong!' Sirius yelled angrily.

**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter?**

'Whoa, massive de ja vu!' Andromeda joked.

'Oh, shut up,' Sirius huffed.

**These people will never understand them! They'll be famous — legends — I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter and Andromeda Black day in the future — there will be books written about Harry and Andromeda — every child in our world will know their names!"**

'Wow,' the Marauders and Lily and Emily said.

**"Exactly." said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy and girl's heads. Famous before they can walk and talk! Famous for something they won't even remember! Can you see how much better off they'll be, growing up away from all that until they're ready to take it?"**

'I hate to admit it but he's right,' Prongs said.

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes — yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy and girl getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry and Andromeda underneath it.**

**"Hagrid's bringing him."**

**"You think it —_wise _— to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

'I would trust Hagrid with my life,' Sirius said faithfully.

**"I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

Everyone sniggered while Sirius pouted.

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to — what was that?"**

'Well we found Hagrid,' Teddy said.

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky — and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

'Cool! I want one! Please!' Sirius begged.

'Why in the name Merlins pants would you want my bike?' Andromeda asked playing a joke. Prongs smiled at her. He knew she was playing a joke.

'That's your bike?' Emily asked faintly.

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so _wild _— long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins.**

'Well he hasn't changed,' Peter said

**In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

'YES! I get the bike!' Sirius paraded.

'How is it yours?' Emily asked in concern.

'Dad gave it to me,' Andromeda replied not entirely truthful; Sirius put in his will that she got the bike.

"No problems, were there?"

**"No, sir — house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. They fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

'Aww,' the females – excluding Andromeda - cooed.

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy and girl, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over Harry's forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning. The same shape was printed on Andromeda's left wrist.**

'Wow,' everyone said.

"Is that where —?" whispered Professor McGonagall.

"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."

"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"

**Sirius pouted. His only daughter almost died at one and is engaged with a daughter at sixteen.**

"**Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well — give them here, Hagrid — we'd better get this over with." **

**Lily and Emily were crying again.**

**Dumbledore took Harry and Andromeda in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house. **

"**Could I — could I say good-bye to them, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and Andromeda and gave them what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog. **

**'I take offence to that!' Sirius and Andromeda said.**

**'Why?' Emily asked.**

**'Oh er-'Andromeda started.**

**'Are you an animagus?' Emily asked impatiently. **

**'Well dad is but I am different. I can turn into any type of dog or cat,' Andromeda explained.**

**'How can you do that?' Emily and Sirius asked curiously.**

**'Well you see er, I am unique and was born like that,' Andromeda finished.**

"**Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "You'll wake the Muggles!" **

"**S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it —Lily an' James an' Emily dead — an' poor little Harry and Andromeda off ter live with Muggles —" **

'What a nice sensitive way to remind us,' Prongs and Moony growled.

"**Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid the kids gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Andromeda Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two.**

**'THY LEFT THEM ON A DOORSTEP?!' Lily and Emily screeched. **

**'Calm down! It's okay! They weren't about to knock on the door around midnight and say 'hi this is your nephew Harry and his friend Andromeda. Bye!' were they?'**

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out. **

**'Whoa that hit rock bottom there, they never go out,' Sirius and Prongs said sadly. **

"**Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations." **

"**Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I best get this bike away. G'night, Professor McGonagall — Professor Dumbledore, sir." **

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night. **

**'Cool!' Sirius said.**

**'Wait. If Hagrid got it off you, how come you didn't take the kids?' Lily asked.**

**'Dumbledore,' everyone else said.**

"**I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply. **

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four. **

"**Good luck, Harry and Andromeda," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone. **

'They'll need it if they are with my sister,' Lily said.

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking himself or Andromeda up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and the other was now around Andromeda and still they slept on, not knowing they were special, not knowing they were famous, not knowing they would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that they would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by Harry's cousin Dudley… They couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter and Andromeda Black — the kids who lived!"**

'That's the first chapter. Who wants to re-'

BANG

'What the hell is going on?' a male voice said.

'Don't know,' a female voice said.

'Dorcas? Noah?' Andromeda said uncertainly.

'Andy?' the girl – Dorcas – said. Two people came around the corner. Dorcas Lupin was average height and skinny with mousy brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. She looked alot like Moony and Remus. Noah Pettigrew was tall with blonde hair and blue eyes.

'Andy!' the boy called Noah said delightedly. He ran to Andromeda and enveloped her in a big bear hug. He spotted Harry and done the same. Dorcas followed Noah's actions.

'Hi Noah,' Andromeda said happily. 'Hi Dorkie.'

**Dorcas saw Moony and without a second thought, ran and hugged him. Moony stood confused and awkwardly. Dorcas pulled away and realised that he didn't know her.**

**'Oh right, I'm Dorcas Lupin,' she explained.**

**'Are you my daughter?' Moony asked.**

**'Yup!'**

**'Who's your mother?' he asked.**

**'Three guesses,' she said.**

**'Dorcas Meadows?' he said uncertainly.**

**'Yup!'**

**'So, who are you?' Prongs asked Noah. Noah and Dorcas only just saw Prongs and Lily and just stood there with their mouths open.**

**'Noah Pettigrew,' Noah introduced himself.**

**'Pete, you have a kid!' Sirius yelled excitedly.**

**'Who's your mum?' Peter asked in shock.**

**'Mary Macdonald,' Noah answered.**

**'Who're you?' Dorcas asked James, Albus, Lily Luna, Remus and Teddy.**

**Teddy said,' I'm Teddy Lupin you brother who is seventeen years younger than you, that is Remus Pettigrew your son, Lily, James and Albus Potter, Andromeda and Harry's other kids,'**

**'Okay so Dorkie has a brother and we have a son? Awesome!' Noah said happily.**

**'Your mother is Tonks? Isn't she?' Dorcas asked Teddy.**

**'Yes.'**

**'Wait Tonks? As in Nymphadora?' Sirius asked.**

**'Yes.'**

**'Moony we are related! But why her? I mean she's five and you're sixteen,' Sirius said confused. Moony shrugged.**

**'So, who wants to read now?' Albus asked holding out the book.**

**'I will!' Andromeda said eagerly.**

**'Andromeda Emily Black reading a book? What has the world come to?' Noah joked.** 'Don't worry we got a note, we know you're reading about Andy and Harry. We got a note saying we can join.'

'Okay.'


	2. The Vanishing Glass

The Vanishing Glass

**Chapter Two - The Vanishing Glass**

'Huh? What glass?' Sirius asked dumbfounded.

'Well if you shut up we'll find out! I for one think it's accidental magic,' Remus said.

Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets — but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby,

Everyone laughed at this.

And now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother.

'God I feel sorry for this kid,' Lily chuckled.

The room held no sign at all that another boy and girl lived in the house, too.

'Does this mean me or Moony got them? I mean we are Andy's relatives and I'm Harry's godfather,' Sirius said.

Yet Harry Potter and Andromeda Black were still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long.

Their Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.

"Up! Get up! Now!"

'Urgh! You never want to wake up to that,' Lily said.

Andromeda woke with a start. She felt Harry do the same beside her. Their aunt rapped on the door again.

"Up!" she screeched. Andromeda heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. She rolled over and rested her head on the wall and tried to remember the dream she had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. She had a funny feeling she'd had the same dream before.

'You did, well it wasn't a dream, but still!' Sirius said loudly.

Their aunt was back outside the door.

"Are you two up yet?" she demanded.

"Nearly," said Harry.

"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."

'They make them cook?' Lily screamed.

Andromeda groaned.

'Good girl,' her father said.

"What did you say?" their aunt snapped through the door.

"Nothing, nothing…"

Dudley's birthday — how could she have forgotten? She looked over at Harry and he had an expression that said quite plainly that he'd forgotten too.

Harry and Andromeda got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. They found a pair each under their bed and, after pulling spider**s** off of them, put them on. Andromeda and Harry were used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them,

'What does the cupboard under the stairs have anything to do with anything?' almost everyone asked fearfully.

And that was where they slept.

'WHAT?! HOW COULD SHE MAKE THEM SLEEP UNDER THE STAIRS? IM GONNA KILL HER!' Lily was beside herself with rage. James was trying to calm her down.

'Shhh it's alright! We can change this. Shhh.'

When they was dressed they went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.

'Why does he want a racing bike?' Sirius wondered out loud.

Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Andromeda and Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise — unless of course it involved punching somebody. Dudley's favourite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast. **But that just goes to show as Andromeda didn't look it, but she was very strong. She was the one that beat Dudley up if he dared even touch Harry.**

'Woohoo! Go Andy! But you're a bit protective aren't you?' Sirius and Remus cheered.

'I had reason. Back then Harry was my only friend.' Andromeda replied.

Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry and Andromeda had always been small and skinny for their age.

'Nah, you just take after your father/mother,' Prongs, Sirius, Emily and Lily all said together.

**They** looked even smaller and skinnier than they really were – well Harry did because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was.

'I feel sorry for you,' Peter remarked.

Andromeda on the other hand had been given clothes that Aunt Petunia's friend's daughter had grown out of. So Andromeda was forced to wear leather skirts that were five inches too short

'Did any boys perve?' Sirius asked protectively.

'If they did I would punch them in the face,' Andromeda replied calmly.

And tight leather shirts. Andromeda was lucky because the other week she had seen fifty dollars on the ground so she snuck out one night and bought some boots without Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon knowing.

'A true marauder!' the Marauders stated proudly.

'Oh boy,' Emily put her head in her hands.

Harry had a thin face, knobby knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose.

'In other words: miniature Prongs with Lily's eyes.

**Andromeda was pretty with a thin face, long black hair (well it was today at least because Andromeda could change her appearance to look like whatever she wanted) and grey eyes.**

'In other words Sirius Jr.' Emily said.

'Yup and of course she has grey eyes, all of the black family do,' Sirius said glumly.

**Harry and Andromeda also had lightning-shaped scars, which were the only things that they liked about themselves most of the time,**

'You two used to like your scars?' Noah and Dorcas asked flabbergasted.

'We didn't know anything!' Harry and Andromeda defended.

**Harry's was on his forehead and Andromeda's was on her left wrist. The first question they remembered asking Aunt Petunia was how they got them.**

'She better tell the truth!' Lily said firmly.

"**In the car crash when your parents died**

'WHAT?! WE DIDN'T DIE IN A CAR CRASH AND YOU KNOW IT!' Lily stormed.

**And don't ask questions."**

_**Don't ask questions-**_that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.

Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Andromeda and Harry were turning over the bacon.

"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.

'Not going to work,' the Potters, Blacks and Moony said in a sing-song voice.

About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way — all over the place.

'Told ya!'

Harry and Andromeda were frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother.

Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head.

'He sounds like a pig,' James and Prongs started.

'With a wig on,' Albus and Sirius finished.

Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel — Harry and mostly Andromeda often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.

'Whoa we think alike!' Sirius, Albus, James, Prongs, Andromeda and Harry said together. They all burst out laughing.

Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.

"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."

'Spoiled brat,' everyone murmured.

'THAT'S THIRTY-SIX MORE THAN I GOT LAST YEAR!' Andromeda yelled.

'Woohoo! Go Andy!' the Marauders, James, Albus, Remus and Teddy cheered.

"**Shut up! **Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy."

"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Andromeda, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down her bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over. Harry did the same beside her.

Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin?

Everyone snorted.

Two more presents. Is that all right?"

Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work.

'It probably was,' Sirius and Emily said.

Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty… thirty…"

'Thirty-nine stupid!' Andromeda said loudly.

'Well you're brave,' Moony, Sirius and Prongs said.

'She's making me feel stupid!' Dudley said.

'Shut up and don't make dudders feel stupid!' Uncle Vernon said.

"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."

Uncle Vernon chuckled.

"Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.

'Oh alright! Just encourage the kid! Great parenting!' Sirius said.

'Great parenting folks!' Andromeda stated smartly.

Everyone laughed at her cheek.

At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry, Andromeda and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR.

He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.

"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take them."

'They have names you know!' Emily and Lily said.

She jerked her head in Harry and Andromeda's direction.

Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Andromeda's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry and Andromeda was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. They hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made them look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.

'Ha!' Sirius said.

"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Andromeda and Harry as though they'd planned this.

'But they didn't do anything, right?' Lily, Lily Luna and Emily asked reproachfully.

Harry looked at Andromeda as though he wouldn't be surprised if she did do it.

Everyone laughed at the thought of when something goes wrong, blame Andromeda.

Andromeda put her hands up in surrender saying she was not involved in it. Andromeda knew she ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when she reminded himself it would be a whole year before she had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.

Nobody troubled to keep the laughter to themselves.

"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.

"NO! PLEASE! ANYONE BUT HER! SHE'LL EAT ME ALIVE!" Andromeda screamed, then added as an afterthought: _"_But then again I could always trick her into eating one of her stupid dogs."

"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy. And don't get me started on the girl."

The Dursleys often spoke about Harry and Andromeda like this, as though they weren't there — or rather, as though they were something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.

"What about what's-her-name, your friend — Yvonne?"

'God! Not her!' Lily said pleadingly.

"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.

"You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully ( Andromeda knew too well he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).

'Bad chance there,' Sirius said.

Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon. Which in Andromeda's opinion, did not suit her.

'You're in trouble and all you can think of is what does and doesn't suit someone? You're unbelievable,' Emily said.

"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.

"I won't blow up the house," said Harry.

"Not making any promises Potty,"

'Nice name!' the Marauders except for Prongs laughed.

Andromeda replied, but they weren't listening.

"I suppose we could take them to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "… and leave them in the car…"

"Will we be able to play with the radio?" Andromeda put in hopefully, but once again they weren't listening.

"That car's new, they're not sitting in it alone…"

Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying — it had been years since he'd really cried (unless of course Andromeda punched him)

'Go Andy!'

— but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.

"Dinky Duddydums,

No one could breathe; they were dying of laughter.

don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.

'Did they fit?' Sirius, Prongs, James and Albus asked eagerly.

"I… don't… want… him… t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.

'Brat,' they all muttered again.

Just then, the doorbell rang — "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically — and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss,

'Nice name,' Sirius said sarcastically.

Walked in with his mother.

Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.

'of course.'

Half an hour later, Andromeda, who couldn't believe her's and Harry's luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in her life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with them, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry and Andromeda aside.

"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Andromeda Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy — girl - any funny business, anything at all — and you'll both be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."

"Me and Andy are not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly…"

"No promises, but anyway…"

But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.

The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and Andromeda – mostly Andy - and it was just no good telling the Dursleys they didn't make them happen.

Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry (Dudley then had a black eye from Andy),

'Woohoo!'

Who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses.

Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off.

He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.

Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force Andy into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls).

'Urgh! That's revolting!' Lily Luna said, clearly disgusted.

The harder she tried to pull it over her head, the smaller it seemed to become (although Andromeda was making herself go fatter so it wouldn't fit), until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Andromeda.

Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to her great relief, Andromeda wasn't punished.

'Good.'

On the other hand, they'd both gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing them as usual when, as much to Harry and Andy's surprise as anyone else's, there they were sitting on the chimney.

'Cool,' the marauders, Teddy, Remus, James and Albus said.

The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry and Andy's headmistress telling them Harry and Andy had been climbing school buildings. But all they'd tried to do (as they shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of their cupboard) was jump behind the big trashcans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught them in mid-jump.

'Poor kid, stuck with James' looks and brains,' Sirius said. Sirius' response was getting slapped up the back of the head from Prongs and Harry.

But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, their cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.

While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Andy, the bank, Andy and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects.

'Well he likes to complain about you two a lot,' Everyone said.

This morning, it was motorcycles.

'What's wrong with them?' Sirius and Andromeda asked hurtfully.

"… roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.

"I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."

'Bad move!'

"Weird," Andy muttered under her breath, but Harry asked her what was weird.

"Same dream," was the reply he got.

'True! That is weird,' the majority of the room said.

Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a moustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"

'Yes they do!' Sirius complained.

Dudley and Piers sniggered.

"I know they don't," said Harry.

"It was only a dream." Andromeda said.

'Was not!'

But Andy knew he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than their asking questions, it was their talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon — they seemed to think they might get dangerous ideas.

'Yeah right,' Remus and Teddy said sarcastically.

It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry and Andy what they wanted before they could hurry them away, they bought them a cheap lemon ice pop each.

'Better than nothing,' Andy said.

It wasn't bad, either, Andy thought, licking hers as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.

'Nice one Padette!' Prongs said.

'Padette? Really?' Andy rolled her eyes at her father-in-law.

Andy had the best morning she'd had in a long time. She and Harry were careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting Harry.

'They better not touch him,' Prongs said through gritted teeth.

They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Andromeda and Harry were allowed to finish the first.

'Well at least you got something,' Lily and Emily fussed.

Andromeda felt, afterward, that she should have known it was all too good to last.

'Oh no!'

After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone.

Peter shuddered. He didn't really like spooky things.

Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can —

'I hope it would,' James, Lily Luna and Albus said.

But at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.

Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.

"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.

'Leave it alone,' Lily groaned.

"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.

"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.

'Good,' Lily and Moony said.

Harry and Andy moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. Andy wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself — no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least she and Harry got to visit the rest of the house.

'True!' Peter said. Everyone glared at him and he quailed beneath them.

The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry and Andromeda's.

It winked.

'What?'

Harry and Andy stared. Then they looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. They looked back at the snake and winked, too.

'Don't encourage it!' Lily and Emily said urgently.

The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry and Andy a look that said quite plainly:

"I get that all the time."

"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though Andy knew that Harry wasn't sure the snake could hear them.

"It must be really annoying," she added.

The snake nodded vigorously.

'You two are parseltongues? How, no one in my family are!' Moony, Prongs, Sirius and Emily said together concerned.

'Yes we are parseltongues now can we please keep reading?' Andromeda and Harry said so they could avoid the second half of their relative's outburst.

"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.

The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry and Andy peered at it.

Boa Constrictor, Brazil.

"Was it nice there?" she asked.

'Yes, we'll just have a normal conversation with a snake and act as if you do it all the time,' Prongs and Sirius said sarcastically but angrily.

The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry and Andy read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see — so you've never been to Brazil?"

As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind the kids made all three of them jump. "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"

'Oh no! Piers, why can't you keep your mouth shut?' Lily Luna asked.

Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.

'Must've taken a thousand years,' James and Albus chuckled.

"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. Andy dropped down beside Harry, just as hard as he fell, asking if he was alright.

'Thank you for looking after him,' Lily said gratefully.

She was so angry when she had knelt down that she had landed on her wrist. She stood up after being reassured that Harry was alright and glared at Dudley in loathing.

What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.

'What happened?' Sirius asked eagerly.

Harry sat up and gasped, whereas Andromeda had already gotten over the surprise; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.

'So that's what the chapter title meant,' Prongs and Sirius realized.

The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.

As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come… Thanksss, amigos."

'So it's going to Brazil? Wicked!' Sirius, James and Albus yelled.

The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.

'I would be too' Remus, Moony and Teddy said at the same time.

"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"

The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Andy had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death.

'Exaggerate much,' Lily said alongside Lily Luna.

But worst of all, for Harry and Andy at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Andromeda?"

Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Andy and Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go — cupboard — stay — no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.

'IT WASN'T THEIR FAULT! THEY DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!' Sirius yelled sad that his daughter and godson had to live through all of this.

Harry and Andy lay in their dark cupboard much later, wishing they had a watch. They didn't know what time it was and they couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, they couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.

'Well at least they thought of the idea,' Sirius, Prongs, James and Albus said.

They'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years,

Everyone's head dropped at the thought of Lily, Prongs and Emily dead.

as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash.

'Some car crash that was! You must've been partying and invited Voldemort over,' Sirius said.

'Yeah and where are you?' Prongs and Lily asked.

'Probably all ready dead,' Sirius assumed glumly.

'But Hagrid borrowed your bike.'

'That probably borrowed it before I died.'

Neither of them could remember being in the car when their parents had died. Sometimes, when they strained their memories during long hours in their cupboard, they each came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on either their wrist or forehead.

'That is strange,' Prongs and Moony said.

This, they supposed, was the crash, though they couldn't imagine where all the green light came from.

'Definitely have their father's brains' Lily, Emily and Moony said.

They couldn't remember their parents at all.

Prongs, Emily, Lily and Sirius's heads dropped.

Their aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course they were forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of neither Harry's nor Andromeda's in the house.

When they had been younger, Andy and Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take them away, but it had never happened;

Lily looked pointedly at Moony who avoided catching anyone's eye and said, 'I have an illness.'

Lily then said, 'Remus we all know about your _furry little problem_. We don't care that you're a werewolf, you're still our friend. Nothing has changed.'

'When did you find out?' Sirius asked.

'We found out in first year. It was kind of obvious,' Lily said. Lupin looked at Emily.

'I didn't say anything! Lily's talking about her, Dorcas and Mary.'

The Dursleys were their only family (well not Andy's but she was forced to call them relatives). Yet sometimes they thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know them. Very strange strangers they were, too.

A tiny man in a violet top hat

'Dedalus!' Sirius, Harry and Andromeda said happily.

Had bowed to them once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry and Andromeda furiously if they knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at them once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken their hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry and Andromeda tried to get a closer look.

'That's because they're wizards,' Prongs said as if explaining to a three year old.

**At school, Harry and Andromeda had no one but each other. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang. Everyone also thought Andromeda was not approachable because Dudley's gang hated her more than they hated Harry and because she's the only one that is brave enough to stand up to Dudley.**

'At least they have each other,' Lily said.

'Yeah so who wants to read next?' Remus asked.

'Can we get food first?' Sirius and Andromeda said.

Everyone sighed trust Sirius and his daughter to come up with that suggestion first.


	3. Note from author

I'm sorry everyone, I have to stop the story because it is not turning out the way I wanted it to.

I am writing another story though and it has Andromeda in it but it starts in POA because it's my favourite.


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